“C ombined with the news earlier this morning about the changes to Avios for British Airways it becomes even more clear that programs are focused on pushing travelers to earn via commercial partner accrual (i.e. CCs & affiliates) than via the programs”, wrote Seth Miller in this article posted at Wandering Aramean where he analyzes the changes in the rate of earning MileagePlus miles on partner airlines of United Airlines. “This should not be a surprise, of course. The programs have been openly talking about this approach for a long time now and even moving down this path for some time. And it is not all bad, assuming you’re willing to play the game that way. But for the people who looked to the programs as a reward for travel, as a way to stretch the travel budget and have more fun while traveling rather than working harder to get to be able to travel (i.e. me) the changes are certainly less pleasant.”
Reading that paragraph caused me to wonder — although I might be “mixing apples with oranges”, so to speak: if you are indeed the type of person who stretches your travel budget using the miles earned in frequent flier loyalty programs but now finds it significantly more difficult to do so because of the changes being implemented in the past couple of years, does finding mistake fares become more valuable to you now?
Please feel free to comment on ways other than mistake fares which you use to stretch your travel budget — such as using affinity credit cards, for example — but in the meantime, please take a moment to participate in the poll below. Thank you.
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